First Battle of St Albans

On 22nd May 1455 the Wars of the Roses commenced with the First Battle of St Albans. Richard Plantagenet 3rd Duke of York (age 43) commanded with Richard "Kingmaker" Neville Earl Warwick, 6th Earl Salisbury (age 26), Richard Neville Earl Salisbury (age 55), Edward Brooke 6th Baron Cobham (age 40) and Walter Strickland (age 44).

The Lancastrians ...

Edmund Beaufort 1st or 2nd Duke of Somerset (age 49) was killed. His son Henry (age 19) succeeded 2nd Duke Somerset, 5th Earl Somerset. Note his father is frequently incorrectly referred to as the second Duke and Henry as the third Duke. His father's Dukedom, however, was a new creation.

Henry Percy 2nd Earl of Northumberland (age 62) was killed. His son Henry (age 33) succeeded 3rd Earl of Northumberland, 6th Baron Percy of Alnwick, 14th Baron Percy of Topcliffe. Eleanor Poynings Countess Northumberland (age 33) by marriage Countess of Northumberland.

Thomas Clifford 8th Baron Clifford (age 41) was killed. His son John (age 20) succeeded 9th Baron de Clifford, 9th Lord Skipton. Margaret Bromflete Baroness Clifford (age 21) by marriage Baroness de Clifford.

William Cotton (age 45) and Richard Fortescue (age 41) were killed.

Humphrey Stafford 1st Duke of Buckingham (age 52) was wounded and captured.

King Henry VI of England and II of France (age 33), John Sutton 1st Baron Dudley (age 54) and Edmund Sutton (age 30) were captured.

Henry Beaufort 2nd or 3rd Duke of Somerset was wounded. James Butler 1st Earl Wiltshire 5th Earl Ormonde (age 34) and John Wenlock 1st Baron Wenlock (age 55) fought.

Richard Cotton of Hampstall Ridware (age 51) and his son William Cotton of Connington in Huntingdonshire (age 27) were killed.

Paston Letters V1 120 William Lomner to John Paston. 238. A.D. 1455, 21 May. — MEMORIAL TO HENRY VI. [From Fenn, iii. 178.]

This is a copy of the memorial drawn up by the Duke of York and the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury just before the first battle of St. Alban's, which the Duke of Somerset and his friends would not allow to be presented to the King. Although this copy is without date, the original was dated at Ware the 21st May. — See Rolls of Parliament, v., 281, where the whole document is cited.

Vadatur J. P.

MOSTE Cristen Kyng, ryght hygh and myghty Prince, and our mooste redoubted souverayn Lorde, we recomaunde ws as humblye as we suffice unto your hygh excellence, where unto please it to wete that for so moche as we hyre and understand to our grettyst sorowe erthlye that our enne. jiyes of approuved experience, such as abyde and kepe theym sylf under the whyng of your Magestee Royall, have throwen unto the same ryght stedyousely and ryght fraudulentlye manye ambyguytees and doubtes of the fayth, lygeaunce, and dewtee that, God knowyth, we beere unto your Hyghnesse, and have put theym yn as grete devoyr as they coude to enstraunge ws from your mooste noble presence and from the favour of your goode grace; whych goode grace to ws ys and owe to be our singuler and mooste desyred yoie and consolacion: We at thys tyme be comyng wyth grace as your true and humble liege men, toward your seyd Hygh Excellence to declare and shew therto at large owr sayd fayth and ligeaunce, entendyng wyth the the mercye of Jesu yn the seyd comyng, to put ws yn as diligent and hertye devoyr and dewtee as onye your lyege men on lyve to that at may avaunce or preferre the honnour and wellfare off the sayd Mageste Royalle and the seurte of the sayd most notable person; the whych [we] beseche our blessed Creature to prosper [in] as grete honnor, yoie, and felicitie as ever had onye prince erthlye, and to your sayd Hyghnesse so to take, accept, and repute ws, and not to plese to geve trust or confidence unto the sinistrez, maliciouse, and fraudulent laboures and rapportes of our sayd ennemyes unto our comyng to your sayd moste noble presence; where unto we beseche humblye that we may be admitted as your liege men, to th'entent to show ws the same; wheroff yerstenday we wrote our lettres of our entent to the ryght reverent fadre yn God, the Archebysshop of Caunterburye¹, your Chauncellr of England, to be shewed to your sayd Hyghnesse, whereoff, forsomoch as we be not acerteyned whethyr our sayd entent be by hys fadrehode shewed unto your seyd goode grace or not, we sende thereof!' unto thys closed a copy of our said lettres of our disposicion toward your sayd Hygh Excellence and the honnour and weele of the land, whereynne we wolle persevere wyth the grace of our Lorde.

Note 1. Fenn states that on the margin of the MS., in a hand nearly coeval with the letter itself, is written, "Memorandum quod diet' literæ (?) Dominorum, direct' Archiepiscopo Cant, est apud ...." What followed is lost, the paper being torn. The letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, however, will be found quoted at full length in the Rolls of Parliament, v. 280-1.

Paston Letters V1 120 William Lomner to John Paston. 239. A.D. 1455, 21-22 May. — THE BATTLE OF ST. ALBAN'S.

This paper is reprinted from the Archaeologia, vol. xx. p. 519, to which it was communicated by Mr. Bayley, keeper ol the records in the Tower, in 1822.

Bellum apud Seynt Albons.

Be yt knovven and hadde in mynde that the xxj. day of May the xxxiij. zere of the regne of Kyng Kerry the Sext, our sovereigne Lord Kyng toke his jurnay from Westmynster toward Seynt Albones, and rested at Watford all nyght; and on the morwe be tymes he cam to Seynt Albones, and wyth him on his partye assembled under his baner the Duyke of Bockingham, the Duke of Somersete, the Erle of Penbrok, the Erle of Northumburlond, the Erle of Devynsshire, the Erle of Stafford, the Erle of Dorsete, the Erle of Wyltsshire, the Lorde Clyfford, the Lord Dudley, the Lord Burneys, the Lord Rose, wyth other dyversse knyghtes, squyeres, and other gentilmen and yemen to the nounbre of ijml [2000] and moo. And upon the xxij. day of the seyde moneth above rehersed assembled the Duyk of Yorke, and wyth hym come yn companye the Erle of Salesbury, the Erle of Warrewyke with diverse knyghtes and squyers unto ther partye into the felde, called the Key Feld, besyde Seynt Albones. Fyrthermore, oure seyd sovereyne Lord the Kyng, heryng and knowyng of the seyde Dukes comyng with other Lordes afore seyde, pygth his baner at the place called Boslawe in Seynt Petrus Strete [Map], whych place was called afore tyme past Sandeforde, and commaundeth the warde and barrers to be kepte in stronge wyse; the for seyde Duyk of York abydyng in the feld aforeseyde frome vij. of the clokke in the morn tyl yt was al most x. without ony stroke smeton on eyther partye. The seyde Duke sende to the Kyng our sovereyne Lord, be the avyse of his councell, prayng and be sekyng hym to take him as his true man and humble suget; and to consider and to tender at the reverence of Almyghty God, and in way of charite the true entent of his comyng — to be good and gracyous sovereyne Lorde to his legemen, whech with al ther power and mygth wille be redy at alle tymes to leve and dye with hym in his rigth. And to what thyng yt shoulde lyke his Mageste Ryall to commaunde hem, yf yt be his worsship, kepyng right of the Croune and welffare of the londe; "More over, gracyous Lord, plese yt zour Majeste Ryall of zour grete goodnesse and ryghtwesnesse to enclyne zour wille to here and fele the ryghtwyse partye of us zoure sugettes and legemen; fyrst, prayng and besechyng to oure Lord Jesus of his hye and myghty power to geve un to zou vertu and prudence, and that thorugh the medyacyon of the glorious martyr Seynt Albon to geve zou very knowleche to knowe the entent of oure assembleng at this tyme; for God that is [in] Heven knoweth than our entent is rightful and true. And there fore we pray unto Al myghty Lord Jesus these wordes — Domine sis clipeus defensionis nostræ. Wherefore, gracyus Lord, plese it your hyghe Majeste to delyvere such as we wole accuse, and they to have lyke, as they have deserved and done, and ze to be honorabled and worsshepyt as most ryghtffull Kyng and oure governour. For and we shall now at this tyme be promysed, as afore this tyme ys not unknowen, of promes broken whech ful fayth fully hath ben promysed, and there upon grete othes made, we wyll not now cesse for noon such promysse, surete, ne other, tyl we have hem whych hav deserved deth, or elles we to dye there fore."

Archaeologia Volume 20 Section 8. An Account of the First Battle of St. Albans from a contemporary Manuscript. Communicated by Joun Baytey, Esq. F.S.A. of His Majesty's Record Office in the Tower; in a Letter to Henry Ellis, Esq. F.R.S. Secretary.

Read 19th December 1822.

His Majesty's Record Office, December 12, 1822.

DEAR SIR,

I inclose a curious Account of the first Battle of St. Albans, which may prove interesting to the Society of Antiquaries: it is copied from a manuscript, in a co-eval hand, found in the Tower, among a large quantity of private letters and accompts of Sir William Stonor, Knt [William Stonor (age 5)?] who, from his correspondence, appears at that time to have been much about the Court, and was also a Steward of the Abbot of St. Albans. The original is written in a book consisting of a few leaves of a small quarto size, and, on comparing the writing with some of the other papers, it seems to be in the hand of Sir William himself.

I remain, dear Sir, your's very faithfully,

JOHN BAYLEY.

To Henry Ex is, Esq &c. &c. &c.

Paston Letters V1 120 William Lomner to John Paston. 241. A.D. 1455, 25 May. — JOHN CRANE TO JOHN PASTON. [From Fenn, i. 100.]

This letter relates to the first battle of St. Alban's and the principal changes which took place immediately after it

Unto my worshipfull and welbeloved cosyn, John Pastony be this lettre delivred in hast.

Right worshipfull and entierly welbeloved Sir, I recommaunde me unto you, desiring hertly to here of your welfare. Furthermore lettyng you wete, as for such tydinges as we have here, such [these] thre Lordes be dede, the Duke of Somerset, the Erie of Northombrelonde, and the Lord Clyfford; and as for any other men of name, I knowe noon save only Quotton of Cammbrigeshire. As for any other Lordes, many of theym be hurt; and as for Fenyngley, he lyveth and fareth well, as fer as I can enquere, &c.

And as for any grete multytude of people that ther was, as we can tell, ther was at most slayn [x]^a vj. score. And as for the Lordes that were with the Kyng, they and her men wer pilled and spoyled out of all their harneys and horses; and as for what rule we shall have yit I wote nett, save only ther be made newe certayn officers.

My Lord of Yorke, Constabil of Englande; my Lord of Warweke is made captayn of Calyes; my Lord Burgchier is made Treasorer of Englande; and as yit other tydinges have I none.

And as for our soverayn Lorde, thanked be God, he hathe no grete harme.

No more to you at this tyme, but I pray you send this lettyr to my Maistresse Paston, when ye have sene hit; preyng you to remembre my systir Margrete ageyne the tyme that she shal be made nonne.

Written at Lamehith, on Witsonday, &c. By your cosyn,

JOHN CRANE.

Note 1. In the original letter, the x is struck out, and vj placed after it in the same line. — F.

Revue de la Cote d'Or Volume 1. Battle of St Albans¹

Account of the battle that took place in England on the 22nd day of May in the year 1455.

Bataille de Saint-Alban.

Relation de la bataille qui a esté en Angleterre le XXII jour de may l'an mil CCCC LV.

Note. This account was written on the 27th May 1455 - see last paragraph

Note. This 'Dijon Relation' was published by Boudot from the manuscript in the Archives de la Côte d'Or at Dijon. The Dijon manuscript, written in an official French hand of the time on a single sheet of paper, is not the original. Near the beginning some words are missing, 'and as no space was left in which they could be added later, 'they were evidently overlooked by a scribe in the process of copying. The passage in question runs as follows:— "et firent hastivement [viz. Somerset and his friends] ledit iii^e jour . . jusques a la some de iii? v? personnes". To make sense of the sentence it is necessary in the first place to supply a verb such as 'assembler' before the word 'jusques'. Secondly, there is no previous reference to 'ledit iii^e jour', which ought therefore to be related to a day of the week or month or else to some feast or particular event. It is suggested (infra, page 17) that the original ran thus: the said third day after the feast of the Ascension. But this is merely conjecture on grounds of probability.

The manuscript belongs to the state papers of the dukes of Burgundy and was indubitably copied and preserved for the political value of its contents. The narrative was finished on 27 May 1455 most probably in England, for the notice that the earl of Wiltshire was still then in hiding would scarcely have been included otherwise. 'There is nothing to show for or by whom the relation was made; but the rendering of Sir Richard Harrington's name proves that the author was not English. He may have been connected with a foreign business firm having a depot in Burgundian territory. The Dijon Relation' is free from the violent language against Somerset and his friends that is found in some degree in most English sources, and unlike the Stow, Phillipps and Fastolf relations it does not trace the development of events from the Yorkist side. However, the account can hardly be declared impartial, despite an apparent attempt to state facts objectively, until more is known about the sources from which the author drew his information.

Calendar of State Papers of Milan 1455. July 4. Potenze, Estere. Roma: Milan Archives. 22. The Bishop of Novara, Milanese Ambassador at Rome, to Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan.

From England we have the news which you will see by the enclosed copy. Although it is not good for those who are dead, yet it cannot fail to favour our proceedings, because it will make the French a little more cautious, as during these differences between the English, they had become great and daily became greater.

Rome, the 4th July, 1455.

[Italian.]

Enclosure.

23. Copy of part of a letter written from Bruges to the Archbishop of Ravenna.

We left London on the 27th May and at that time there was nothing new; my lord of Somerset ruled as usual. Subsequently I learned here yesterday, by letters which came straight from Sandwich to Dunkirk, that fresh disturbances broke out in England a few days after my departure. A great part of the nobles have been in conflict [First Battle of St Albans], and the Duke of Somerset, the Earl of Northumberland and my lord of Clifford are slain, with many other lords and knights on both sides. The Duke of Somerset's son, who presented the collars of the king, was mortally wounded; my lord of Buckingham and his son are hurt. The Duke of York has done this, with his followers. On the 24th de entered London and made a solemn procession to St. Pauls. They say he has demanded pardon from the king for himself and his men, and will have it. He will take up the government again, and some think that the affairs of that kingdom will now take a turn for the better. If that be the case, we can put up with this inconvenience.

No one comes from Calais as the passages are guarded. We should hear further particulars from merchants, messengers and those who come. I send your lordship these particulars, as you will be glad to hear them even though the news seems unpleasant.

Bruges, the last day of May, 1455.

Postscript on the 3rd of June.—I have further news of the battle in England brought by one who came here from Calais. They say that on the 21st of May the king left Westminster with many lords, including the Duke of Somerset, to hold a council at Leicester (a le cestre), eight miles (sic) from London. They went armed because they suspected that the Duke of York would also go there with men at arms. That day they travelled twenty miles to the abbey of St. Albans. On the 22nd the king set out to continue his journey, but when they were outside the town they were immediately attacked by York's men, and many perished on both sides. The Duke of Somerset was taken and forthwith beheaded. With his death the battle ceased at once and, without loss of time, the Duke of York went to kneel before the king and ask pardon for himself and his followers, as they had not done this in order to inflict any hurt upon his Majesty, but in order to have Somerset. Accordingly the king pardoned them, and on the 23rd the king and York and all returned to London. On the 24th they made the solemn procession, and now peace reigns. The king has forbidden any one to speak about it upon pain of death (il Re ha mandato Bando a pena di vita, non se ne parli). The Duke of York has the government, and the people are very pleased at this (il duca de Jorlz ha il governo et li popoli se ne tengono molto contenti).

[Italian.]